Wasted youth and a fresh set of lonely stars

What follows will be a narrative, I guess. I'd have to look up the definition to know exactly what that is. It'll be a personal recounting of the days and events as I remember them. I'll also post whatever notes I took, if any. And I'll try to throw in tips, lessons, hints for anyone (and myself) who may be hiking this trail in the future.

This adventure was made unique given the fire and that it cut of access to the valley, where the proper trail starts. We met a couple of other hikers starting when we were and they opted to hike down to the valley to the formal trail head, and then back up the John Muir Trail to Tuolumne Meadows.

We'd hiked a portion of this section and given the time line and conditioning level (not high) we opted to leave from Tuolumne Meadows. We spent our first two nights there in the campground getting ready. We watched the sunset from Lembert dome. We watched the sky turn red from a combination of late day sun rays and fire. We watched the smoke flank the northwest horizon.

One of the biggest unknowns was the weather. 7-14k feet in the Mountains of California in September…I had no idea what to expect. A week or two before we left, some other hikers posted a photo of the first snowfall on Mount Whitney.

You can almost always bet on a rogue thunder storm. I felt adequately prepared. Our final days in Yosemite we bought a couple of random things to bolster our supplies. Here's my gear list as best I recall. Lindsey can add in her equipment as she sees fit.

Chris:

Base components

Osprey Exos 58 liter pack

Thermarest Neoair sleeping pad, regular

Marmot Arroyo 30 degree down sleeping bag

North Face Mica 2 tent

Bear vault BV400

Kitchen

Esbit Titanium Stove

Snow Peak 900ml double wall titanium cup

1 liter Nalgene, yellow.

Platypus Big Zip, 3L

Sea to summit long aluminum spoon

Camera Gear

Targus aluminum tripod

Panasonic Lumix G5 with 14-45 lens and 45-200 lens

3 extra batteries

64gb memory

Intervelometer

Steripen Adventurer

Goal Zero Guide 10 Solar panel

Custom built REI Backpacker First Aid kit

Clothing

REI Sahara shirt

Mountain Hardwear Portino shorts

Mountain Hardwear Canyon shorts

REI baselayer top and bottom

Icebreaker merino socks x4, other merino socks x3

Icebreaker boxer brief 250g x3

REI Revel cloud vest

Patagonia Down Sweater

Mountain Hardwear beanie

Stoic eVent rain shell

Kayland Zephyr boots

Misc

Light load towels

Tom Harrison Map pack

Black Diamond Icon headlamp

Casio sgw-300h watch with altimeter, barometer, thermometer.

Rope

Lighters

gerber multitool

compass

chapstick

food

signal mirror

emergency blanket

trash bag/pack cover

Lindsey (things not already on the above list):

Gregory Deva 60 backpack

REI Sub Kilo 15 degree sleeping bag (for women)

Thermarest Scout sleeping pad (procured from the Tuolumne gear shop after the unfortunate death of my Big Agnes Air Core)

Komperdell antishock light trekking poles

Cocoon inflatable pillow

Cocoon silk sleeping bag liner

Snow Peak 700 ml titanium cup with handles and pour lid

Prana and REI convertible pants

REI midweight space dye baselayer pants

Two Columbia sun goddess shirts

REI primaloft vest

Patagonia down sweater

Turtle fur hat

Outdoor research sun hat in white

Leatherman Skeletool and small flip knife

Black Diamond Headlamp

Under Armour Base Layer shirt

Buff

Pee Rag

I may be forgetting a few things. As I go on, I'll add or mention them as I remember. If I remember. I'll review most of the things on the list in some form or fashion.